Old England Strikers

I was watching ‘Goals’ on ESPN just now and they were highlighting the goals from last week’s matches, when they showed the goals from Emile Heskey and Premiership journeyman Andy Cole. It then struck me that the two players at one time played for England, perhaps in a different climate of England soccer.

There is usually only a maximum of 2 slots for the place of England strikers at time (plus 2 more reserves). Unless Eriksson gets anal retentive and plays 4-5-1. At the moment, there are a handful of players that are vying for the 2+2 places in the England squad – Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe, Alan Smith, Peter Crouch and Andy Johnson. Wow, talk about tough competition.

So, it made me wonder, what are the fortunes of the former England strikers, who no longer stand a chance of being capped anymore, but are still playing in the EPL? Let’s see:

Andy Cole (Man City) – He’s played for 5 EPL teams so far, not including Arsenal pre-1993. I remember when he was a regular for England and for Man U (with Dwight Yorke). Then came Ruud van Nistelrooy and poor Andy was bumped from team to team. These days he seems well past his prime, but there always seems to be a team willing to pay him to be a supersub.

Teddy Sheringham (West Ham) – Now this guy is still sharp. He’s 38 this year, on a good day he can still turn on the magic. He never really struck it big for Man U or England, but at least they love him at Upton Park.

Alan Shearer (Newcastle) – He’s retiring soon, and its about time. But back then, he was the undisputable top England striker. I remember he went through a dry spell, but they stuck with him simply because he was the still best.

Les Ferdinand (Bolton) – This is another oldie earning supersub money.

Kevin Philips – I reckon he featured in the Euro 96 and a few friendlies. Where is he playing now, again? I forget.

Robbie Fowler (Man City) – So much potential, but all down the drain. I remember getting excited watching him and Owen play for Liverpool, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before he wears the three Lions jersey again.

Emile Heskey(Birmingham City) – I never really seen him play a good match for the Reds, but I guess it was only the right timing that won him his caps. Can’t recall how many times I’ve heard the fall-on-your-@ss jokes.

Darius Vassell (Man City) – Frankly, I don’t think much of him, but during Euro 2004 there was a shocking shortage of good strikers, and I correctly predicted he would fill the last slot (after Rooney, Owen and Heskey).

Francis Jeffers (Charlton) – Must have been a flu epidemic that struck all the decent strikers to allow Pluggy here to play for England. He even scored a goal.

(James Beattie & Darren Bent also played for England before, but they’re not really out of the picture yet, but neither are they in the running. Did I miss anyone else?)